Connecting Universities to regional Growth : A practical guide

This EU Guide has been designed to enable public authorities to promote the active engagement of universities and other higher education institutions in regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation, in cooperation with research centres, businesses and other partners in the civil society. It can also be used by academic and economic partners to explore the benefits they can expect from working together for regional development. It is not an academic publication but a practical tool with recommendations, part of a series of guides prepared in the framework of the Smart Specialisation Platform set up by the Commission for providing methodological assistance and practical guidance to national and regional policy makers involved in designing and delivering innovation strategies for smart specialisation. It will be useful for the last years of the current programming period and for preparing the next one.